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Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the final Monday in May.

<div class="gjw_content"><div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p id="pdf-1716727562020"><span class="s1"><strong>(NEWSnet/AP)</strong> — Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the final Monday in May.</span></p></div></div>
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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p2"><span class="s1">Businesses incre</span><span class="s1">asingly have chosen to remain open on the holiday. It has become one of the main retail weekends annually. </span></p></div></div>
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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p3"><span class="s2">Government offices, post offices, courts and schools are closed, as are U.S. stock markets.</span></p></div></div>

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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p2"><span class="s1">Costco said it will be closed, but the vast majority of retailers are open.</span></p></div></div>
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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p2"><span class="s1">Most FedEx and UPS pickup and delivery services will not be available on Memorial Day.</span></p></div></div>
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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p2"><span class="s1">Memorial Day is considered the unofficial opening of the summer travel season. AAA estimates 43.8 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the holiday travel period, an increase of 4% from 2023. </span></p></div></div>

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<div><div class="Article-paragraph"><p class="p2"><span class="s1">About 38 million people will travel by car, the highest number for that holiday since AAA began tracking it in 2000. Another 3.5 million people will travel by air.</span></p></div></div>
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